A Dutch cardinal has said that he is pressing ahead with a plan to phase out Sunday Word and Communion services in the absence of a priest within his territory.
Cardinal Willem Eijk, the Archbishop of Utrecht, said in a Feb. 14 letter that he was committed to eliminating the priestless Sunday celebrations over the next five years, so that the Mass can “occupy its rightful central place” among local Catholics, despite protests from some members of the archdiocese.
In parts of Europe that have seen sharp declines in priestly vocations, Catholics routinely gather on weekdays for Celebrations of the Word and Communion, led by a permanent deacon or lay person. Scripture readings and the proclamation of the Gospel are followed by the distribution of Holy Communion, consecrated at a previous Mass.

The China News Service (CNS) (chinanews.com.cn) describes the Catholic community of Yanjing as an “oasis of coexistence” between religions and a “place of encounter” between cultures Catholic community in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The second largest news agency of the People’s Republic of China, which disseminates news in Chinese and English, recently posted a detailed report on the “Tibetan community” online. The agency points out that the church building’s architectural features also combine Tibetan and Gothic elements, representing a fusion of different cultural traditions. But above all, the details and news collected in the report convey a vivid and evocative image of the small church community that profess faith in Jesus on the Roof of the world, where even Christian liturgical celebrations become an occasion for fraternal coexistence with fellow countrymen, the majority of whom are Buddhists.
The focus of the article is around the figure of Magdalene, the consecrated lay woman who for the past 26 years has de facto custody of the church. Magdalene rings the bells each day, leads the community’s daily prayer, recited in the Tibetan language, and also acts as a “tour guide” for visitors from outside when necessary. Magdalene also assists with devotion and concern the priests who come from Yunnan or other provinces to celebrate masses especially on the occasion of liturgical solemnities since there is no longer a permanent presence of a priest in the parish.
The story of Magdalene is not limited to describing the unique way in which the bond of fraternity that binds Tibetan Catholics to their fellow Buddhists is manifested. At Christmas, the more than 520 baptized of the 70 Catholic families who attend the parish also involve the rest of the population in the celebrations for the birth of Jesus. In the morning, after the solemn liturgical celebration, everyone gathers to eat the local cuisine. In the afternoon, Buddhists also help decorate the church with Christmas decorations.

Islamic religious leaders have backed an all-Muslim presidential ticket as a political “jihad” ahead of the Feb. 25 elections.
Nigeria’s Christian leaders are calling for both full engage-ment in the country’s democratic process, and faith in the viability of the country’s future, ahead of elections scheduled for Feb. 25, after Islamic religious leaders ha-ve backed an all-Muslim presi-dential ticket on religious grou-nds.
The country’s upcoming ele-ction took on religious signifi-cance after the governing All Pro-gressive Congress party decided to field an all-Muslim ticket for president and vice president, in a departure from the country’s customary electoral practice, which sees parties pairing a Muslim and a Christian.
The APC ticket has drawn support from prominent Islamic clerics in Nigeria, who have called on the country’s Muslims to vote along religious lines, fueling national tensions amid an ongoing series of mass attacks on Christian communities.

During a February 2 meeting with Congolese Jesuits (LaCivilta Cattolica.com, February 16), Francis said that “when they proposed me to be auxiliary bishop of San Miguel, I did not accept.”
He was also asked to become bishop of an area in Corrientes, northern Argentina. The nuncio encouraged him to accept saying that there were the ruins of the Jesuit past there.
Bergoglio replied that he did not want to be a “guardian of ruins” and refused, not caring about the people of these peripheries. But when he was offered Buenos Aires “with the authorisation signed by the Superior General, Fr Kolvenbach” [which was not needed], he accepted – humorous quote – “in a spirit of obedience.”
In The Dictator Pope, Henry Sire writes that Kolvenbach gave a negative evaluation of Bergoglio in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart his promotion.
Francis told the Jesuits that a pope should not resign because the papacy is for life and that he had no plans to resign.

The recent rescript approved by Francis and the Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Roche, continues to arouse reactions. The new document, which reinforces the motu proprio Traditinis custodes, establishes that the use of a parish church or the erection of a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist according to the 1962 Missale Romanum and the granting of the license to priests ordained after the publication of the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes to celebrate according to the Missale Romanum of 1962, will be the responsibility of Rome. InfoVaticana contacted Cardinal Müller to find out his opinion on this decision by the Pope and Cardinal Roche. The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith replied that “Pope Benedict XVI has given the papacy a great reputation, even among agnostics far from the Church (Paolo Flores D’Arcais, Jürgen Habermas, Piergiorgio Odifreddi) thanks to his high theological competence and intellectual honesty”. Alluding to Benedict, Müller argues that “it was not necessary for him to insist on formal obedience in an authoritarian way, because even the obedience of faith to God, which is decisive for salvation, does not require blind servility, but a devotion to God Trinity with reason and free will, that is, an obesequium rationabile (Vatican II, Your word 5)”.
On the other hand, the German cardinal states that “when it comes to obedience to ecclesiastical authority, one must distinguish between religious obedience, which refers to the authoritative submission of revealed faith, and willingness to willingly follow the Pope and the bishops even concerning the discipline of ecclesiastical organization and the order of the liturgy”. “We distinguish between the substance of the sacraments, over which the Pope and the bishops have no power of disposition, and the liturgical rite, which has historically developed into the various legitimate rites within the single Catholic Church”, adds the cardinal.
Müller assures that “Pope Benedict overcame the tensions that had arisen in a theologically competent and pastorally sensitive way, distinguishing between the ordinary and extraordinary form of the Latin rite”. Cardinal Müller describes this decision as a “brutal intolerance” against those who prefer the traditional Mass. He adds that it is a “pastorally counterproductive” decision and “a frightening example of theological incompetence in distinguishing between the unavailable substance of the sacrament and the richness of the forms of liturgical rites”.